HISTORY:-

Fiber optics, though used extensively in the modern world, is

a fairly simple and old technology. Guiding of light by
refraction, the principle that makes fiber optics possible, was
first demonstrated by Daniel Colladon and Jacques Babinet
in Paris in the early 1840s. John Tyndall included a
demonstration of it in his public lectures in London a dozen
years later.[1] Tyndall also wrote about the property of total
internal reflection in an introductory book about the nature of
light in 1870: "When the light passes from air into water, the
refracted ray is bent towards the perpendicular... When the
ray passes from water to air it is bent from the
perpendicular... If the angle which the ray in water encloses
with the perpendicular to the surface be greater than 48
degrees, the ray will not quit the water at all: it will be totally
reflected at the surface.... The angle which marks the limit
where total reflection begins is called the limiting angle of the
medium. For water this angle is 48°27', for flint glass it is
38°41', while for diamond it is 23°42'.

Introduction:-
An optical fiber or optical fibre is a thin, flexible, transparent
fiber that acts as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit
light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied
science and engineering concerned with the design and
application of optical fibers is known as fiber optics (or fibre
optics). Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic
communications, which permits transmission over longer
distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other
forms of communication. Fibers are used instead of metal
wires because signals travel along them with less loss and
are also immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are
also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so
they can be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in
tight spaces. Specially designed fibers are used for a variety
of other applications, including sensors and fiber lasers.

Optical fiber typically consists of a transparent core

surrounded by a transparent cladding material with a lower
index of refraction. Light is kept in the core by total internal
reflection. This causes the fiber to act as a waveguide.
Fibers which support many propagation paths or transverse
modes are called multi-mode fibers (MMF), while those
which can only support a single mode are called single-
mode fibers (SMF). Multi-mode fibers generally have a larger
core diameter, and are used for short-distance
communication links and for applications where high power
must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers are used for most
communication links longer than 1,050 meters (3,440 ft).

Joining lengths of optical fiber is more complex than joining

electrical wire or cable. The ends of the fibers must be
carefully cleaved, and then spliced together either
mechanically or by fusing them together with heat. Special
optical fiber connectors are used to make removable
connections.